DAIMON IN HELLENISMOS

In Ællinismós (Hellenismos,
Ἑλληνισμός), the ancient Greek
religion, the word daimohn does not have the connotation of
evil. It is actually a neutral term, but usually used in a positive context. Daimohn
refers to a benevolent divine being, or a benevolent force or power (there
are exceptions), and, most generally, daimohn refers to a
God.

In line five of the Orphic hymn to Apóllohn (Ἀπόλλων) we see the God referred to with the epithet:

Φωσφόρε ΔαῖμονLight-bearing Daimohn

And in line seven of the Orphic hymn to Diónysos (Διόνυσος), the God is called:

Ἄμβροτε Δαῖμον

Immortal Daimohn

...and we could
find many other such examples where a God is called a Daimohn.

The
great Heroes of the Silver Age [1] of Krónos (Κρόνος),
described by Ἡσίοδος (Hesiod) in Ἔργα
καὶ Ἡμέραι (Works and Days), were a race of mortals who lived like Gods.
They were Ἡμίθεος, Demi-Gods, almost
Gods, and were later deified and became Ἀνθρωποδαίμονες,
the deified mortals; as such, they are known as Δαίμονες Χρυσέοι, the Golden Daimonæs:

"But after the earth had covered this generation---they are called pure spirits (ed. δαίμονες in the Greek text) dwelling on the earth, and are kindly, delivering from harm, and guardians of mortal men; for they roam everywhere over the earth, clothed in mist and keep watch on judgements and cruel deeds, givers of wealth..." [2]

After his description of the Daimonæs Khrysǽi, Isíodos (Hesiod) talks of a new race
of men who were not as virtuous as the earlier race. Nonetheless, when this
newer generation passed, they also became benevolent deities known as the Ὑποχθόνιοι Μάκαρες Δαίμονες, the Happy
Subterranean Daimonæs, second in rank to the Golden Daimonæs (who dwell over
the earth clothed in mist), but yet still worthy of honor. [3]

Later in Works
and Days, Isíodos describes a race of daimohnæs who
are guardians (φύλακες) of those mortals who may be subjected to
injustice:

"You princes, mark well this punishment you also; for
the deathless Gods are near among men and mark all those who oppress their
fellows with crooked judgements, and reek not the anger of the Gods. For upon
the bounteous earth Zeus has thrice ten thousand spirits (δαίμονες), watchers of mortal men, and these keep watch on
judgements and deeds of wrong as they roam, clothed in mist, all over
the earth." [4]

"They also say that there are some Dæmones, who
have a sympathy with mankind, being surveyors of all human affairs;
and that there are heroes, which are the souls of virtuous men, which have
left their bodies." [5]

We often find the word Daimohn being used
to refer to a lower or subordinate deity, but the term may be used for
any God as well as semi-divine beings. The word daimohn may also be used as a synonym to the
word psykhí (ψυχή), the soul,
but here meaning a soul without a mortal body. Nonetheless, it is possible to
refer to one’s own soul as a daimohn, but it would be more appropriate to do so
when discussing the soul as it exists between lives. From this we can derive
one definition: a daimohn is a soul without a mortal body, whether it be of
good or bad nature, whether this soul be subject to re-birth or whether it be
immortal.

Plátohn, Daimonæs,
and Ǽrohs

In
his discussion of Ǽrohs (Ἔρως)
from Συμπόσιον (Symposium), Plátohn (Πλάτων)
uses the word in a particular way, saying that daimohnæs are "intermediate
between the divine and the mortal." He describes Ǽrohs as such a
daimohn, a very special daimohn, the one who delivers our prayers to the Gods
and who returns with the commands and replies of Gods:

Diotíma: ...he
is neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean between the
two.

Sohkrátis: What
is he Diotima?

Diotíma: He
is a great spirit (δαίμων), and like
all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal.

Sohkrátis: 'And
what,' I said, 'is his power?'

Diotíma: 'He
interprets,' she replied, 'between Gods and men, conveying and taking across to
the Gods the prayers and sacrifices of men, and to men the commands and replies
of the Gods; he is the mediator who spans the chasm which divides them, and
therefore in him all is bound together, and through him the arts of the prophet
and the priest, their sacrifices and mysteries and charms, and all prophecy and
incantation, find their way. For God mingles not with man; but through Love all
the intercourse and converse of God with man, whether awake or asleep, is
carried on.' "[6]

The North African Neo-Platonist
philosopher Apuleius in his work On the God of Sohkrátis (Σωκράτης) comments on this passage,
applying the concept to all daimohnæs:

"...there
are certain divine middle powers, situated in this interval of the air, between
the highest ether and earth, which is in the lowest place, through whom our
desires and our deserts pass to the Gods. These are called by a Greek name dæmons, who, being placed between the
terrestrial and celestial inhabitants, transmit prayers from the one, and gifts
from the other. They likewise carry supplications from the one, and auxiliaries
from the other, as certain interpreters and saluters of both. Through these
same dæmons, as Plato says in the Banquet (ed. Sympósion),
all denunciations, the various miracles of enchanters, and all the species of
presages, are directed. Prefects, from among the number of these,
providentially attend to every thing, according to the province assigned to
each; either by the formation of dreams, or causing the fissures in entrails,
or governing the flights of some birds, and instructing the songs of others, or
by inspiring prophets, or hurling thunder, or producing the coruscations of
lightning in the clouds; or causing other things to take place, by which
we obtain a knowledge of future events. And it is requisite to think that all
these particulars are effected by the will, the power, and authority of the
celestial Gods, but by the compliance, operations, and ministrant offices of
dæmons... It is not fit that the supernal Gods should descend to things of this
kind. This is the province of the intermediate Gods, who dwell in the regions
of the air, which border on the earth, and yet are no less conversant with the
confines of the heavens; just as in every part of the world there are animals
adapted to the several parts, the volant (ed. capable of flight) living in the
air, and the gradient on the earth." [7]

The Agathós Daimohn and
the Kakodaimohn

The word daimohn was corrupted by Christians into
"demon," giving it a pernicious meaning. This became the convention
of the church in the Latin-speaking Western Roman Empire, but in the
Greek-speaking Eastern Empire, the word daimohn does not convey
this negative stigma. Daimohn is used
to signify any spirit. For instance, the Holy Spirit, part of
the Christian Trinity, is called a daimohn, with no negative implication at
all, and this is still true in the Orthodox Church today. In the West, the
negative meaning is ubiquitous and denotes an evil 'spirit.'

Nonetheless, in our religion we are aware of malevolent daimohnæs,
souls of immoral individuals who, after they die, wish to continue their
harmful mischief. Such beings are inhabitants of the lower sky and are known as
kakodaimohnæs (κακοδαίμονες, plural). Kακός means "bad"
or "evil." They are, generally, the prósyeia pnévmata (πρόσγεια
πνεύματα), the landed daimohnæs, i.e. those souls who have not progressed,
who may have committed crimes, and who, by their own actions are attached and
bound nearest the terrestrial earth in the lower sky. They whisper in the ears
of susceptible individuals and try to convince them to make bad decisions and
lead a wicked life. They trick the unsuspecting and deliver false oracles
in order to mislead them, and those who submit to their treachery are subject
to become daimonizmós (δαιμονισμός), possessed by a
kakodaimohn.

The Agathós Daimohn (Ἀγαθὸς Δαίμων) is the opposite of the
kakodaimohn (κακοδαίμων, singular). Agathós
means "good." This is a particular kind of daimohn, one who protects,
a type of tutelary entity which we are all believed to possess.

At the most fundamental level, we
are protected by our own character, as is succinctly stated by the philosopher
Irákleitos (Ἡράκλειτος):

Ἦθος ἀνθρώπῳ δαίμων[8]

The character of a man determines his destiny.

Why is the word daimohn here
being translated as "destiny?" It is because the etymology of the
word is connected with the ancient Greek δαίομαι, "to
divide, to distribute." Daimohnæs are thought to be somehow connected
with destiny, and destiny is thought to be determined by the Mírai (Moirae,
Μοῖραι), those three Goddesses who apportion or divide out
our our fate. Irákleitos is here saying that our destiny is not determined by
powers completely beyond our control, but, rather, our fate is the result of
whether or not we live in arǽti (arete, ἀρετή),
whether or not we have achieved virtue. Nonetheless, there is a belief from
antiquity that we are given a helping hand in this regard, that there is a
daimonic power, possibly even a soul, who watches over us, and this soul or
influence is the aforementioned Agathós Daimohn.

The Agathós Daimohn is the soul of
someone who has sacrificed a life for the benefit of someone to whom it loves.
In other words, rather than being reborn and continuing on with a new body,
the Agathós Daimohn places their own self-interest aside to protect a soul
she loves. The Agathós Daimohn is not usually a God, but a soul more
progressed than the one which it cares for. The character of the Agathós
Daimohn is beautifully defined by Apuleius:

"But there is another species of dæmons, more sublime
and venerable, not less numerous, but far superior in dignity, who, being
always liberated from the bonds and conjunction of the body, preside over
certain powers. In the number of these are Sleep and Love, who possess powers
of a different nature; Love, of exciting to wakefulness, but Sleep of lulling
to rest. From this more sublime order of dæmons, Plato asserts that a peculiar
dæmon is allotted to every man, who is a witness and a guardian of his conduct
in life, who, without being visible to any one, is always present, and who is
an arbitrator not only of his deeds, but also of his thoughts. But when,
life being finished, the soul returns [to the judges of its conduct], then the
dæmon who presided over it immediately seizes, and leads it as his charge to judgement
and is there present with it while it pleads its cause. Hence, the dæmon
reprehends it, if it has acted on any false pretence; solemnly confirms what it
says, if it asserts any thing that is true; and conformably to its testimony
passes sentence. All you, therefore, who hear this divine opinion of
Plato, as interpreted by me, so form your minds to whatever you may do, or to
whatever may be the subject of your meditation, that you may know there is
nothing concealed from those guardians either within the mind, or external to
it; but that the dæmon who presides over you inquisitively participates of all
that concerns you, sees all things, understands all things, and in the
place of conscience dwells in the most profound recesses of the mind. For
he of whom I speak is a perfect guardian, a singular prefect, a domestic
speculator, a proper curator, an intimate inspector, an assiduous observer, an
inseparable arbiter, a reprobater of what is evil, an approver of what is good;
and if he is legitimately attended to, sedulously known, and religiously
worshipped, in the way in which he was reverenced by Socrates with justice and
innocence, will be a predictor in things uncertain, a premonitor in things
dubious, a defender in things dangerous, and an assistant in want. He will also
be able, by dreams, by tokens, and perhaps also manifestly, when the occasion
demands it, to avert from you evil, increase your good, raise your depressed,
support your falling, illuminate your obscure, govern your prosperous, and
correct your adverse circumstances." [9]

Apuleius is trying to point out that
we have a great opportunity which must not be wasted, that we have a guide and
a protector, if we are willing to hear the voice of the Agathós Daimohn and
yield to its advice and protection. What is this advice and protection? There
are various opinions, but it is generally not thought to be an explicit voice,
but rather it is something that stops us and prevents us from blundering badly,
at least, that is, if we do not ignore its warnings. Some say that the Agathós
Daimohn is nothing more than simply the voice of our conscience.

Of course, Apuleius is using as his
example the Agathós Daimohn of none other than Sohkrátis (Σωκράτης), a highly evolved soul who would be accompanied by an
equally, indeed, even more highly advanced daimohn; in his case, it is not
unlikely that this daimohn was a God. For more ordinary people, the Agathós
Daimohn is a soul more advanced than you, but not actually a God. And the
tradition relates that if we should progress beyond the development of the Agathós
Daimohn, another, more surpassing daimohn will take its place.

The Orphic Hymn to Daimohn

In Orphic Hymn 73, Daimohn,
the word refers to Zefs Ploutodótis (Πλουτοδότης), 'Zeus the Giver of Wealth,' but the hymn also is
referring to the divine power which protects and gives great benefit and, thus,
gives honor to the Agathós Daimohn and can be used when
honoring it.

"Whereas
the Theologian Orphéfs (Orpheus) conveys that there are three generations of
men: the very first a Golden age said to be of Phánis; the second Silver
brought forth by mighty Krónos; the third is the Titanic age formed of the
Titanic limbs of Zefs." (trans. by the author)

The logo to the left is the principal symbol of this website. It is called the CESS logo, i.e. the Children of the Earth and the Starry Sky. The Pætilía (Petelia, Πετηλία) and other golden tablets having this phrase (Γῆς παῖς εἰμί καὶ Οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος) are the inspiration for the symbol. The image represents this idea: Earth (divisible substance) and the Sky (continuous substance) are the two kozmogonic substances. The twelve stars represent the Natural Laws, the dominions of the Olympian Gods. In front of these symbols is the seven-stringed kithára (cithara, κιθάρα), the lyre of Apóllohn (Apollo, Ἀπόλλων). It (here) represents the bond between Gods and mortals and is representative that we are the children of Orphéfs (Orpheus, Ὀρφεύς).

PLEASE NOTE: Throughout the pages of this website, you will find fascinating stories about our Gods. These narratives are known as

, the traditional stories of the Gods and Heroes. While these tales are great mystical vehicles containing transcendent truth, they are symbolic and should not be taken literally. A literal reading will frequently yield an erroneous result. The meaning of the myths is concealed in code. To understand them requires a key. For instance, when a God kills someone, this usually means a transformation of the soul to a higher level. Similarly, sexual union with a God is a transformation.

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